Wellhead sealing arrangement



Jam. 1, H9510 M. T. WORKS WELL HEAD SEALING ARRANGEMENT Filed Jan. 3,1947 MADDEN T. WORKS INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS meted Jan. 31, 1950 WELLHEAD SEALING ARRANGEMENT Madden '1.Works, Houston, Tex minor to Cameron Iron Works, Houston, Tex.I acorporation of Texas application January 3, 1947, Serial No. 720,004

8 Claims.

This inventiongelates to seal assemblies and has for its general objectthe provision of a seal assembly which though useful in most instancesin which an annular seal is desired, is particularly adapted for use inproviding a seal between the casing or tubing head of a well and aninner casing or tubing extending upwardly therethrouah.

More specifically it is an object of this invention to provide anassembly of the type referred to which will be compacted and capable ofbeing used in the conventional short style of casing or tubing heads. A

Another object of this invention is to provide such assembly which maybe used in the same location in a casing or tubing head as the meanscustomarily employed for supporting a casing or tubing in such head.

Another object of this invention is to provide such an assembly whichwill serve both the function of supporting the casing or tubing and offorming a seal between the casing head or tubing head and the casing ortubing as the case might be.

Another object of this invention is to provide an assembly of the typereferred to which-may be employed to form a seal between a casing ortubing head and a casing or tubing passing therethrough, which utilizeseither the force eirerted by the hanging of the casing or tubing thereinor a force independent thereof, or both.

@ther objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example oneembodiment of the invention.

In the drawing, the single figure is a view' partly in vertical crosssection and partly in side elevation illustrating a seal assemblyconstructed in accordance with this invention in place within a casinghead and about the casing of a well.

The well casing l is threaded at its upper end as shown at t to receivethe casing head 3 which is provided with the usual casing flow openingsd. At its upper end the casing head is provided with u laterallyextending flange 5 having holes 8 therethrough for the reception of thestuds l by which the flange t of a. tubing head or the like 9 may besecured to and drawn toward the casing head. This casing head is of theusual short iorm having an inner upwardly facing seat It adapted toreceive a slip bowl or other means for supporting within the casing headthe casing H.

In the present instance the usual slip bowl empioyed for hanging acasing in the casing head is replaced with an assembly constructed inaccordonce with this invention and comprising a relahvely rigid supportmember H, a relatively rigid hunger member it and a packing member Mintermediate the support I2 and hanger l3 and formed of a relativelysoft packing material flowable under pressure. It will be noted that thesupport member I2 is provided with a downwardly'facing tapered shoulderl5 adapted to seat upon the hanger seat in in the casing head andthereby to support the seal assembly just referred to. At its lower endthis support is provided with an inwardly extending flange 16 having anopening therethrough of a size to closely embrace the casing H. Taken inits entirety the support i2 is of cup-shaped formation and is adapted toreceive Packing member it which extends into the cup-shaped portion ofthe member i2 and nests therein. Likewise, the member l3 extends intothe cup-shaped inner portion of the member it so that all three of thesemembers nest with each other and provide an assembly in which themembers have relatively large areas of contact between them and yetprovide an overall assembly which is much shorter than it would be ifthe members were not nested or telescoped with respect to each other.

It is noted that the member M is of substantially the same thicknessthroughout and that it has an inner diameter and an outer diameter suchas to normally fit snugly about the casing H and within the casing headi. The member it at its upper end is provided with an outwardlyextending flange H which fits snugly within the upper end of the casinghead and at its lower end is provided with an inner diametersubstantially the same as that of the member it and. the member it.

In the illustration shown in the drawing the member it is provided witha tapered bore i8 forming a slip bowl adapted to receive slips it havinginwardly facing teeth 20 which engage the outside of the casing M tosupport the same.

The upper surface of the flange I1 is provided with asealing ringreceiving groove 2| and the lower surface of the tubing head flange 8 isprovided with a similar groove 22, said grooves registering with eachother and serving to receive a metal sealing ring 23 for the purpose offorming a seal between the members l3 and 9.

It will readily be seen that the assembly consisting of the members I2,Ii and It occupies substantially no more space than the oridinary slipbowl customarily employed in a casing head for supporting a casingtherein, and that this assembly does not require any extension on thelength of the casing head yet provides adequate supporting area betweenthe parts and an adequate size of slip bowl for the slips I9, whichsupport the casing.

It will further be seen that in assembling the structure just describedthe parts l2, l3 and M may either be formed as separate parts and placedin the casing head in succession or if desired they may be moldedtogether as a unitary assembly so that these three parts may be put inas one. The slips I9 can then be put in place in the slip bowl formed inthe member I3 and will serve to support the casing II. The tubing headwill then be put in place with the sealing ring 23 between the tubinghead and the member l3, after which the studs 7 will be inserted andtightened. It will be seen that whether or not any appreciable weight isapplied to the slips I9 by the casing II, the packing member I4 may becaused to form a seal between the casing and the casing head bytightening of the studs 1 since this tightening will serve to causeextrusion of the member I4 both radially inwardly into sealing contactwith the casing and radially outwardly into sealing contact with thecasing head. At the same time, the seal ring '23 will be made tight toprovide a seal between the member I3 and the tubing head 9.

It will further be seen that once-the member I3 has been drawndownwardly until a seal is formed between the member I4 and the casingand casing head respectively, the studs I may be loosened or removed ifdesired and the member I3 will be held downwardly in position tomaintain the seals thus formed by virtue of the engagement between theslips I 9 and the casing I I. It will be understood that normally astrain will be taken on the casing I I before the slips I9 are set, sothat when the casing II is released the slips I9 will carry asubstantial portion of its weight and this weight will serve to extrudethe packing member I to form the desired seals even before the tubinghead 9 is put in place, but that if a sufficient seal is not formed inthis manner the seal may be subjected to greater pressure by means ofthe tightening of the studs 1 after the tubing head has been put inplace. Thus, the sealing forces applied by the weight of the casing and.by the tightening of the studs I will be added to each other, but eithermay be used to apply a sealing force even though the other be notpresent.

From the foregoing it will be seen that a means has been provided forcarrying out and accomplishing all of the objects sought by thisinvention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for suspending and sealing a pipe within a wellheadcomprising a bowl adapted to seat within a wellhead and having a sockettherein with inwardly and outwardly extending upwardly facing shouldersat its lower and upper ends respectively, a second bowl-shaped memberadapted to fit within the first in spaced relation thereto and having aninner slip receiving surface adapted to receive slips for supporting thepipe, and a layer of a sealing material fiowable under pressuresubstantially filling the space between said bowl members.

2. A device for suspending and sealing a pipe within a wellheadcomprising a lower member adapted to seat in the wellhead, an uppermember adapted to receive a pipe suspending means, said members beingspaced apart and out of contact with each other, and an intermediatemember substantially filling the space between said two first mentionedmembers, and consisting of a sealing material fiowable under pressure,said members being shaped respectively so as to telescopingly engageeach other.

3. A device for suspending and sealing a pipe within a wellheadcomprising a lower support member, an upper hanger member and anintermediate sealing member of a material flowable under pressurebetween the support and hanger members, all of said members nestedwithin each other.

4. A device for suspending and sealing a pipe within a wellheadcomprising a lower support member, an upper hanged member and anintermediate sealing member of a material fiowable under pressurebetween the support and hanger members, all of said members nestedwithin each other, and said hanger member having an annular sealing ringgroove formed in its upper surface.

5. In combination with a casing head having an upwardly facing seattherein to receive a pipe hanger and means at its upper end for securingadditional wellhead equipment thereon and drawing it into tightengagement therewith, an annular support member seated upon said seatwithin the casing head and having an inner periphery of a size toclosely embrace a pipe to be suspended therein and having its uppersurface cup-shaped, an annular hanger member disposed within said casinghead above said support member and having its outer periphery closelyembraced by said casing head and its inner periphery of substantiallythe same size as that of said support member and having its innerportion nested within the cup-shaped upper surface of the supportmember, said support member and hanger member being spaced apartthroughout their adjacent surfaces and said hanger member having atapered inner slip receiving surface lying partly within the cup-shapedportion of the support member and having its uppermost surface formedwith a seal ring receiving annular groove, and a sealing member of amaterial fiowable under pressure substantially filling the space betweenthe adjacent surfaces of said support and hanger members.

6. An annular seal assembly comprising three nested substantiallycup-shaped members, the intermediate member being formed of a sealingmaterial fiowable under pressure and the other two members being adaptedto be forced toward each other to cause extrusion of the scaling memberoutwardly and inwardly, said other two members being relatively hard andrigid as compared with the sealing member.

7. An assembly as set forth in claim 6 wherein one of-said relativelyrigid members is provided with a seating surface adapted to support theassembly and the other of said relatively rigid members is provided withmeans for receiving a pipe supporting device, and a pipe supportingdevice cooperating therewith.

8. An assembly as set forth in claim 6 in combination with means forforcing said relatively rigid members into closer nesting engagementwith each other to cause extrusion of said intermediate member inwardlyand outwardly from between said relatively rigid members, and a pipesupporting device carried by one of said relativel rigid members.

MADDEN T. WORKS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,087,179 Barker July 13, 19372,400,254 Penick May 14, 1946

